In what may be a bit of posturing, the Atlanta Falcons announced that they are comfortable moving forward with Kirk Cousins as their backup quarterback.
Coming off a torn Achilles, Cousins inked a four-year, $180 million contract with the Falcons ahead of the 2024 season. The veteran quarterback made 14 starts for Atlanta before being sent to the bench. The franchise made the move following an unimpressive win over Las Vegas in Week 16. In his final five games as the starter, Cousins threw nine interceptions and just one touchdown.
Atlanta jumpstarted the Michael Penix Jr. era earlier than expected in an effort to save their season. In three starts, Penix — the No. 8 pick in the 2024 NFL Draft — threw for 737 yards, three TDs and three INTs. After a 34-7 win in Penix’s first start, the Falcons lost their next two games to fall out of the playoff picture. Both losses came in overtime.
While Penix’s status as the starting quarterback was not in question moving forward, many around the league were surprised by general manager Terry Fontenot’s comments Thursday morning. Speaking at a news conference, Fontenot stated, “Kirk is a great man and he’s been great support for Mike, a great teammate, great support for everybody in the building, so we’re very confident moving forward with him as the backup.”
Cousins’ contract calls for the veteran to make roughly $90 million guaranteed over the first two years of the deal. When pressed on Atlanta’s plan for the big cap hit, Fontenot acknowledged the team expected Cousins to provide “high-level quarterback play for two seasons.”
“We understand that that didn’t happen,” Fontenot said. “Nobody was happy to make the switch at that time. … So now what happens is we had to accelerate that plan and go to Mike earlier and yet the allocation of the quarterback position — the cap allocation — is we’re eighth in the league. That’s what we planned for with Kirk as the starter. He’s not the starter anymore but we’re very comfortable moving forward with him as the backup.”
Last month, ESPN’s Adam Schefter reported that the consensus around the league was that the Falcons would cut Cousins before March 17. The veteran is due a $10 million roster bonus on that day. Additionally, if the franchise opted to release Cousins before March 12, it would be hit with $65 million in dead money.
Despite Fontenot’s comments, a trade revolving around Cousins remains in play. The QB holds a no-trade clause, and Atlanta would need to cover the $37.5 million of remaining proration if it trades him. As for the $27.5 million fully guaranteed on his base salary, Cousins new team would be responsible for that figure.
“Everyone would have to be good with it, from his camp, his supporters, [Cousins’ agent] Mike McCartney, Kirk Cousins, us, the other team,” Fontenot said. “There’s a lot of layers to that and we’ll take those as they come.”
“We’ll keep those discussions private as we move forward, but I just want to be clear that we’re very comfortable with [Cousins] being the backup,” Fontenot said.
